Reading Between the Lines
by ABirdWhoSquawks
Summary: Pearl's interest is piqued when she finds a mysterious purple notebook in the crystal temple.


The ornate, twisted hilt of the rapier protruded from the mound of garbage, its narrow blade buried in a cloth armchair.

Pearl groaned in frustration as she pulled the weapon from the pile. "Ugh! How many of my things does she even have?" As she inspected the blade for any damages, the corner of a small object under the chair caught her eye, and she bent down to retrieve it.

It was a distressed purple notebook. Several pages had fallen out and been crudely shoved back in again; others were torn or water-stained.

Her interest piqued, she opened the notebook to find many pages worth of crude handwriting scrawled in pen, much of it crossed out.

"Wait... Did Amethyst write this?"Pearl wondered. _Now_ she was curious, but she stopped herself. "What if it's her private diary? I really shouldn't..."She closed the book carefully. "...Oh, but I must!" She tore it open again and sat on the old armchair to read.

* * *

 _ **Chapter one: The Mission Starts.**_ _It was a rad day outside. The sun was shining like super brightly over Beach City and it was super warm, but not too much._

 _But Amethyst, the coolest of the crystal gems-_

* * *

 _"_ Yep. Amethyst definitely wrote this," Pearl said to herself.

* * *

 _But Amethyst, by far the coolest of the crystal gems, wasn't outside enjoying the radiant sun outside. Instead, he was preparing for a super dangerous mission that only she could go on by herself, and save the day!_

 _"Amethyst, are you sure you'll be ok?" Steven said childishly to her and ate his cereal._

 _"Yeah, I'll be more than ok. I'm gonna be awesome!" said Amethyst. Lightning happened around her and she looked really cool._

 _Then Garnet said something. "It's ok, Steven. Amethyst is a powerful gem warrior who can do anything and is really strong." She whispered quiet to herself. "Even stronger than me, She's really strong"_

 _Then Pearl came and walks gracefully to Amethyst. She says "Oh, Amethyst! Let me go with you, I need to make sure your safe"_

 _Amethyst sighs and says "I can't let you do that, Pearl, it's way too dangerous. I need to do this alone" and she warped out of there._

* * *

Pearl shook her head in confusion. "I don't remember any of this! Wait..." a smile crept up on her face. "This isn't a diary, it's fiction!"She giggled lightly. "Amethyst, I had no idea you were interested in such creative endeavors; I'm impressed!"

She frowned at the scrawled pages in her hands. "Well, I'm not too impressed with your grammar. Awkward syntax, misuse of tense... *you're..."Her eyebrow twitched in irritation; she calmed herself with a few deep breaths. "Still, I'm proud of the effort."

Curious as to how the story would turn out, Pearl began reading again. Minutes slowly turned to hours as she became engrossed in the strange story Amethyst had authored.

* * *

. . . _ **Chapter Twelve: The Final Boss.**_

 _And after Amethyst had beaten the eleventh monster with her bare fists she looked up the path to the cave at the top of the gargantuan mountain where the final monster was._

 _"I heard its a dragon" she said and flexed her huge mussels and biceps. "but i'm strong enough for this and I'm ready to beat you!" she shouted and walked up to it._

 _When she got there and looked in she saw it was a dragon! "It's a dragon!" She said. It roared super loudly but Amethyst heard another noise behind her._

 _"Amethyst!" It was Pearl!_

* * *

Pearl gasped. "What a twist! I had no clue that I would do that."

* * *

 _"Pearl? What are you doing here!" Amethyst shouted loudly at Pearl._

 _"I followed you because I was worried and I missed you!" Pearl said. Then she screamed "Look out, Amethyst!" and tackled me out of the way where the dragon breathed fire where we used to be._

 _Amethyst looked up at Pearl on top of her and realized she was really very beautiful. They stared at each other and looked away and blushed._

 _"Thanks, P" Amethyst said. She stood up, "but theres no time!" I jumped up really high up to the dragon's head and I punched it so hard that it exploded!_

 _Amethyst landed and Pearl came running up to her and crying. "Amethyst, I was so worried but that was amazing!" "Yea, I know" said Amethyst. Then Pearl looked at her really close in the eyes and said "Amethyst, theres something I need to tell you..."_

* * *

Pearl held her breath in anticipation.

* * *

 _". . .I love you!"_

* * *

"I. . .Wha?" Pearl wondered if she had read that correctly.

* * *

 _"I love you! I know I can be a pain in the neck sometimes and I nag way too much, but I can't help it. The truth is I really admire you. You're really fun to be around, you're so courageous, and you've always been there for me. I've always loved you but I've been too afraid to tell you"_

 _"I love you too, Pearl"_

* * *

" _What!?_ " Pearl nearly fell off of the chair.

* * *

 _"You can be a real pain in the neck, but deep down, I've still looked up to you ever since you found me. You've always been so caring and smart and gosh you're pretty"_

* * *

Pearl could not hold back a smile. "Sure, the prose is clearly rushed and awkwardly cobbled-together,"she said, "but there's something really sweet about this." She sniffed. "I had no clue you cared about me so much, Amethyst." The thought almost brought a tear to her eye.

* * *

 _Then they totally made out. Pearl slipped her tongue-_

* * *

"Oh!" Pearl exclaimed as she slammed the book shut, her face flushing a scandalized teal.

...before she opened it again and continued reading.

. . .

Amethyst's smile broadened to a ludicrous length as she ran giggling to her room, chewed-up pen in hand. When she was inspired, nothing could halt her writing's furious pace. Within the space of only half an hour, dozens upon dozens of her notebook's pages would be newly-filled. Her heart raced at the prospect.

As she approached her notebook's secret hiding spot, however, her exhilaration was abruptly cut short.

" _Pearl!?"_ There her notebook was, _open,_ in the hands of her reclining teammate, the very _worst_ person to have possibly picked it up, lest she discover its contents. Amethyst needed to get it back, and _fast._

"O-oh, Amethyst!" Pearl hastily shoved the book behind her as she sat up and cleared her throat. "I've been looking for you! I found a rapier of mine in your room this morning, and I-"

"Pearl, what are you doing with _my stuff?_ " Amethyst growled.

Pearl gulped. "Why, I have absolutely no idea what you mean!"

Amethyst narrowed her eyes in response. "The _notebook?_ "

Pearl reluctantly brought the item forward. "What, this? Th-this is yours? I had no idea-" Amethyst's glare was enough to tell Pearl that this defense mechanism was not getting anywhere. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Amethyst. I stumbled upon it earlier this morning, and I just couldn't help myself, I was so curious."

Amethyst blinked. Her once-assertive demeanor melted away with a terrible realization. "Wait, this _morning?_ It's like, the middle of the afternoon now!"

Pearl responded with a sheepish grin. "Heheh, whoops."

"Pearl, _how much did you read?"_ Amethyst said, panic setting in.

"Well, I just finished chapter thirty-one, but I had to skip a few chapters back in the early twenties because they were so illegible..." She stopped at the sight of Amethyst, jaw wide open, silent and still with shock. Realizing what she had just admitted to having done for the past few hours, Pearl covered her mouth and felt a conspicuous warmth in her face.

A long, tense silence followed, the cool cavern air suddenly stifling.

Finally, Pearl cleared her throat, stood, and put a hand on the other gem's shoulder. "Well, for what it's worth, I'm proud of you for putting so much work into these creative endeavors. Your prose may be amateur, clumsy, inexperienced, self-congratulatory, cliché, error-riddled," she coughed and tugged at her collar, "and quite raunchy at points, but I thought it was sweet." She smiled gently and laid the book back on its chair before walking back to the house, leaving Amethyst alone.

Amethyst fell face-first into the chair's cushions. "My life is over."

* * *

 **A/N: Super thanks to PaintedPetrichor for beta reading this for me, their advice was invaluable. Go check out their stories!**

 **This story is dedicated to PostTeenager on Ao3.**


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